Historic district overlay in G'ville

Gordonsville Town Council voted unanimously Monday night to adopt language into the town's land development ordinance which establishes a historic overlay district downtown. Previously, the planning commission had unanimously recommended approval of the historic overlay district.
The overlay applies to major exterior renovations, demolitions and new construction on about 100 residential and commercial properties located within the limits of the overlay-generally from the traffic circle down Main Street to the Exchange Hotel. Buildings within the overlay will be required to get architectural review board approval for exterior renovations and additions, as well as demolition.
During the Oct. 26 Gordonsville Town Council meeting and public hearing on the ordinance change, just a handful of property owners chose to address council with concerns. At earlier meetings, and during planning commission meetings on the subject, residents came out in larger numbers to ask questions and to express both opposition and support for the historic overlay district.
Main Street property owner Sandy Parrott said her impression was that while a majority of Gordonsville residents were opposed to the overlay district concept, the process of drafting the ordinance, and now voting on it, seemed to be a "done deal" by council members.
"If the people that own the homes don't want it to happen, why is it happening anyway?" Parrott asked.
Gordonsville Vice Mayor Brenda Watkins said surveys sent out by town officials to property owners in the proposed district were sent back indicating support for the concept, with only one exception. Town council member Avis Beasley said she'd heard nearly nothing from citizens about the overlay at council meetings. And Gordonsville Mayor Bob Coiner said the minority who oppose the revision are in fact a very small minority.
Town council member Pete Zahn said the draft council members were considering had evolved a great deal from what many residents and property owners had first seen-and had initially opposed. The most recent revisions, he continued, are worded more carefully to preserve the town's historic assets, and not to be "abusive to the citizens."
Furthermore, Zahn added, the property owners who have been most vocal in opposing the ordinance change are the very ones who are least likely to be affected by it at all. Those homeowners already maintain their houses and yards in a pristine and tasteful manner.
"They epitomize what this ordinance stands for," Zahn said. But without protection like the overlay district on the books, there's nothing to prevent complete demolition of an entire block of Main Street's older buildings and replacing them with a strip mall.
Zahn said the latest revisions did not aim to scrutinize absolute and finite details for affected property owners who may choose to renovate or improve their houses. Instead, he explained, "You're legislating more of the concept than the absolute nuts and bolts of what you are and are not able to do."
Coiner said after consulting with town officials in Culpeper, Fredericksburg, Warrenton, Charlottesville, Leesburg and other nearby localities with active overlay districts, he learned that "almost universally," properties within historic districts had higher values, were deemed more desirable, and sold more quickly and at higher prices.
And one function of the overlay, Coiner added, is to protect these higher valued properties from neighbors who aren't bound by any architectural safeguards, and whose construction and yard storage choices could ultimately drive down the value of nearby historic-and immaculately maintained, structures and houses.
The historic district already exists on the national and state historic registers, Coiner added. But it wasn't in place in past decades when the Gordon Tavern was razed, and a Tastee Freeze was erected in its place-and that's precisely the kind of thing the overlay would prevent in the future, he said.
The changes to the town's land development ordinance in respect to the historic overlay district will become effective Jan. 1, 2010. At their November meeting, council expects to appoint a board of architectural review to evaluate proposed construction and renovations to buildings within the historic overlay district.